


learning curve

by Echo (Lyrecho)



Series: Capella's Promise [2]
Category: Capella's Promise (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Literally every character in this game is in some way a Tsundere, Rayne is still awesome, Universe Alteration, Velk-centric, Worldbuilding, character focused, headcanons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-07-26 19:11:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7586482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyrecho/pseuds/Echo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After years spent living a sheltered life in the slave market with Thiana, Velk has quite a steep learning curve to conquer. Luckily, his party members are there to help out.</p><p> <a href="http://memoriesofpurelight.tumblr.com">|Tumblr|</a></p><p> <a href="http://twitter.com/lyrecho">|Twitter|</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	learning curve

**Author's Note:**

> • This is very Velk centric. But, hey. What can I say? I love Velk, and I love his development. Also I wanted a logical reason for him to be the literal strongest/most useful party member considering that he’d never even once left the slave market, apparently.  
> • Once again, headcanons abound, particularly in reference to ‘Specialties.’ In game, you earn SP, you level up Specialties. All the in-depth stuff here isn’t lore, it’s me being pedantic and trying to worldbuild.  
> • While in the topic of worldbuilding, I’ve referred to Carnack as a ‘port city.’ This is not entirely accurate. To be sure, Carnack is one of the larger towns in game, but is still pretty small and has only the typical inn, item shop, weapon shop. So for Carnack (and other towns throughout this series) buildings and shops will be added so as to make the population and cities seem exactly like that.  
> • Of course, everything build and statwise written here is based on how I leveled my characters. Velk is fully capable of being a kickass mage. Shena can tank (yes, even though she is in a wheelchair). Rayne, the token Mini Mage of the group, can be a total physical powerhouse. It’s all about how you choose to build them.

"What are you two doing?"

Rayne's voice came from behind him, and Velk turned his head to see her standing about a metre away, the outline of her illuminated by the setting sun, her pale blue hair let loose from her usual twintails for once, in order to dry it after she and the other girls had washed up earlier.

Next to him, Mosef smiled at his granddaughter. "I'm just helping Velk out a little with some specialties," he said, then sighed. "However, we might have to call it a night, Velk. We're running low on offerings, and I would quite like some available to me tomorrow, when we travel through to Carnack."

Velk nodded in agreement, even as Rayne's eyes went wide.

"You're teaching him prayers?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Velk said, as Mosef gave Rayne a gentle pat on the head before heading in the direction of the fire, where the others were gathered, and a strong scent of cooking herbs was coming from. "When he heard I have trouble with magic, he offered to teach me a few things. Prayers come from divine intervention, after all - not mana."

" _Huh_ ," Rayne huffed out a breath, before looking him up and down appraisingly. "You got anything down yet?"

"Only two, so far," Velk admitted. "Divine Wrath is pretty solid, and Rising Light is...getting there."

"But that's still good!" Rayne enthused. "Lightning, and healing - that's a great start." Her eyes lit up. "You _have_ to tell Shena, Velk! She'll be so happy for you!"

Velk's gaze fell upon his pink-haired, wheelchair bound charge at that point, humming happily as she watched over the dinner pot, smile widening each time she had to shoo Ricky off by subtly siccing Ripple onto him. "She's busy," he said.

Rayne snorted. " _...never too busy for her_ master," she mumbled as she turned to walk off, and Velk scowled.

"Don't you start, too," he complained. He'd honestly tried to get Shena to call him something other than 'Master,' he _had_ \- but the only ground she had given had been 'Master Velk' which was about one-hundred times worse and made him feel _old_ when he heard it – and, of course, the others had found no small amount of hilarity in referring to him as the same.

At that moment, Rayne grinning wickedly at him over her shoulder, Shena called out to them. “Dinner!” she said, waving her ladle around in the air. Velk waved back shortly to show they had heard her, before quickly stepping his way past Rayne.

“Race you!” he said, calling back to the younger girl once he was already well ahead of her.

“Cheater!” she yelled back, and ahead of them, the others laughed.

-x-

Ripple watched closely as Mosef crouched down next to Velk, the old man’s white hair all but shining starkly in the noon light. This close to Carnack, they had split up into two parties in order to gather as much ‘loot’ as they could. Honestly, she had only ever bothered with collecting the galuc from monsters she had killed, as well as the occasional weapon (Penn had tried to sell her on the benefits of the medicine and antidotes that could be produced as loot, but she was fine with store-bought, human produced healing items, thank you very much), but Velk had insisted on collecting reagents – as many of them as he could, manarel dust and shards to keep stowed away ‘just in case.’

(“We’ll need it,” he’d scowled, insistent. “I can’t just pull S-Medicine out of thin air, and you guys- ” a sideways, accusing look at Ricky, “- go through them like crazy.”)

And, well, Velk was the once with the magic chalice. If he said they needed to spend some time collecting sticks and spring water, then that was absolutely his prerogative. Ripple didn’t truly mind overmuch – the fact was, she needed to hoard as much galuc as she possibly could. After all, one of her most effective attacks involved sacrificing a rather large amount of it – much to the consternation of the rest of the group. Ricky had gaped open mouthed at her when she had informed them of the cost of Coin Shoot, and Velk and Rayne both had immediately exchanged furtive looks with one another, as if silently agreeing to never allow Ripple near the party’s funds.

“What are you two doing?” she asked curiously. She’d ended up grouped with them because she had absolutely refused to party up with Ricky without more people to act as a buffer between them, and the idea of two long range fighters (focused heavily on magic) without any true physical attacker with them had been a truly awful one, particularly considering Shena’s mobility, or rather lack thereof (she was in a _wheelchair_ in the _forest_ , for crying out loud) – Ripple herself may be firmly on the side of physical attacks or items, infusing things like galuc and bombs with manarel to boost their effectiveness rather than casting spells herself, but Ricky was an absolute _powerhouse_ with that spear of his, and the breadth of his knowledge of combos was impressive.

Velk, too, was a powerhouse, if a less experienced one than Ricky. Ripple wouldn’t say either one was more useful than the other – Ricky may be the stronger of the two, at least for now, but Velk learned fast, wasn’t as annoying as Ricky, was young enough that he hadn’t once flirted with her (she wished she could say the same for Scruffy) and had the ability to create Megalomas with his chalice.

(Which was absolutely astounding to Ripple – Megalomas were rare, incredibly so, usually handed down family lines if at all. Some difficult boss monsters dropped their own Megalomas – the incredibly _old_ ones, that was, legendary beasts from a time when the gods still roamed amongst humanity – but beyond that, it was unheard of in this day and age to see a Megaloma. The knowledge on how to create them had vanished when the ancient alchemy of Meusta had been lost with the city when it fell. However it fell. There had long been rumors that alchemy had been less of a powerful discipline, and more of a curse. After all, Meusta itself only had knowledge of alchemy because the few survivors of the Garman Empire had made their way there, eons ago, when the entire civilization had been wiped out in a single night. All that was left of Garmania, apparently once a grand and flourishing empire, were the ruins scattered around the world, not even a single tome of history remaining of the land. And with the fate of both Garmania and Meusta, things such like that - is it any wonder that alchemy was believed to be cursed?

All that remained in Ilnacia – and most likely, the world – of alchemy were the dissolving forges scattered about the land, which one day would be gone, too. Each year that passed, more failed, more were shut down, and more were lost. Without the knowledge that the Garmanian’s once had, that Meusta once had, the forges couldn’t be repaired, and new ones couldn’t be built.

Velk’s chalice could act much the same as a dissolving forge, but he had already said he had no idea _how_ it worked – it _just did_.)

Mosef smiled at her, and raised a finger to his lips in a gesture for silence, before inclining his head in the direction Velk was intensely staring. Curiously, Ripple craned her head over the boy’s shoulders, to see in a small clearing ahead of them, a gathering of Evil Hawks in a single tree - most likely their nest.

It was then, as she settled in beside him, that Velk, down on one knee, brought clasped hands up to his face, and bowed his head with closed eyes; spoke words low.

" _I call upon the Divine and give willingly this offering..._ "

Ripple blinked, recognizing from several days of travel by Mosef's side, the opening of an Aria of Prayer, the activation of an old, almost forgotten discipline. For a man such as Mosef, to use Prayers made sense. Magic, and manarel, came easier and stronger with youth and vitality - the reason Rayne, the youngest of their party, also cast the strongest spells, while Ricky's (the middle-aged man that he was) spells, few and admittedly low level that they were, were comparatively so much weaker.

For one such as Velk though, a young man (boy, really, not even seventeen yet), magic _should_ have been the preferred discipline. After all, magic required nothing but your own self. Prayers could have up to twenty-count in their activation Aria, and offerings may not always be accepted if the divinity being called upon feels as if it is too small. With Prayers, you couldn't control the power output the way you could with a spell. With Prayers, it was, in the end, completely out of your hands - it was, rather, a matter of divine intervention.

“ _…grant your blessing unto me and lend me your aid…”_

The air around them grew heavy, still and cold like the precipice of twilight, and Velk shifted, opening his eyes. “Come forth,” he said. “Creeping Fog of Decay.”

It took a few moments, but shortly after the words had left Velk’s lips, imbued with the power of the Divine, a mist began to slowly, but surely, billow past their feet, heading for the nest of Evil Hawks as if guided by sentience. Reaching up the trunk of the tree with intangible hands, the mist choked itself around the monsters, and in swift, short order, they were all poisoned.

Alerted now to the fact that they were under attack, the avian monsters cried out in alarm and attempted to fly from their nesting place. However, the status effect – empowered as it was with the strength of the Divine – acted swiftly to bring them back down to earth, wings flapping limply and cawing out weakly as they succumbed to death.

It wasn’t anything Ripple hadn’t seen before – not the death of the Evil Hawks, not the poison, not even poison inflicted by Prayers – but something about it, about seeing it used in such a sneak attack, rather than in the heat of battle, was poignant, and she stared quietly at Velk for a moment as he stared in the direction of the loot boxes forming out of the piles of manarel that the monsters had crumbled into.

“Well done, Velk,” Mosef said. “You used only a minimal amount of offerings, and the Divine answered your call swiftly.” The elder man grinned. “They must like you.”

Ripple snorted. She couldn’t imagine the Divine looking down from on high and deciding to favor this one teenage boy, of all humans. She couldn’t even imagine the Divine _having_ emotions. “You’ll need more than just Prayers,” she declared, breaking the silence suddenly enough that Velk jumped with a yelp. “That chalice of yours means you have constant access to both items and manarel. I’m going to teach you some _necessary_ survival skills.”

Looking up at her from where he still crouched, whereas she was now standing, hands on hips, Velk gulped.

-x-

Ricky wasn’t entirely sure of how he’d managed to get into this mess. He had, after all, paid off his debt to Filip, and while he had agreed to travel with Velk, Shena and Rayne – that was more to pay off the debt he felt towards _them_ at the time, rather than humoring Filip, and also because he just did not feel comfortable with letting a bunch of kids – two of them mages, one of them in a wheelchair, all three of them _absolutely clueless_ about the world, life and even the nation of Ilnacia – wonder around by themselves when the Emissaries were after them. But now, somehow, the partway babysitting gig he had _reluctantly_ signed himself up for had become a fight against the Emissaries – possibly even Capella itself.

That was far, so far, from what he wanted. He was an _archeologist_ , for crying out loud. He wasn’t built for war, politics or intrigue. He’d rather spend his days in the cavern under Norma, trying to crack open that door and figure out what secrets that remnant of the Garman Empire held.

So, he left the ‘parenting’ to Mosef, who watched over the three kids of the group with a patient eye, and the teaching of the way of the world to Ripple, who was absolutely crazy and terrifying (admittedly, like most women he had the distinct ‘pleasure’ of knowing) and must never meet Cui, for if they joined forces it would be the end of the world, full stop. Forget whatever nefarious plans Capella may or may not have in place – _there’s_ your doomsday scenario.

And with all those bases covered, what need of him was there, really?

Well, none, honestly. And it wasn’t just Ricky himself who thought that. Ripple insisted on it quite a few times a day, and Velk had reassured him more than once that he didn’t have to worry about Filip – they’d be fine on their own.

But if Ricky was one thing, it was stubborn. And hearing a bunch of kids (as well as Ripple, who may be an adult but was at least a decade his junior, closer in age to Velk and Shena than Ricky and Mosef) claim that they would be fine without him, just made him want to stay more. And if he was staying, he’d have to do _something_ useful for the party.

And so, it was with that in mind that he dragged Velk from the inn in Carnack, early in the morning after their arrival the evening earlier, before anyone else had so much as a chance to wake up.

The boy was still half asleep as he followed Ricky to the port cities limits, and passed through the gates. His clothes were rumpled from being slept in and his hair was a mess, but he clutched his sword tightly in one hand, and even now that chalice of his was belted to his side.

“What is it, Ricky?” he yawned. “We’re going to talk to the harbor master in a few hours, according to Ripple. I don’t know how well I’ll sleep once we’re on water, so I kind of like the idea of catching up on some now.”

“I want to teach you some things,” Ricky said bluntly. “Let’s face it, kid – you don’t have all that many skills.”

An indignant look flashed across Velk’s face, and he seemed more awake now. “Hey - ” He opened his mouth to protest, and Ricky held up his hand in the universal gesture for silence, and peace.

“You’re good with a sword, and with those Prayers the old man has been teaching you,” Ricky said. “You’ve got a magic chalice and the ability to do math in your head scarily fast. But you’re clueless about a lot of things, Velk. What can you do with that sword of yours, really? Swing it? Stab with it? That’s not always going to be good enough, and you can’t pray if you run out of offerings. Even then, the Divine may not answer your call.” Ricky crossed his arms. “Your memory’s near eidetic,” he said firmly. “So whatever I teach you here, you’d better damn well remember it for the rest of your life.”

Despite himself, Velk looked interested. “What are you going to teach me?” he asked. “I can’t do magic.”

Ricky snorted. He’d been there to watch the multiple failures that were Velk attempting to cast. “No, something more physical,” he said. “Next to me, you’re the strongest of the party, and besides Ripple, the only other physical attacker. What I teach you here will be about boosting that.”

Velk perked up. “Combos?” he said eagerly, and Ricky knew why. Combos were notoriously difficult to learn, particularly because when people created their own, they were understandably reluctant to share them. There were possibly thousands of combos out there, but only about fifty or so were universal knowledge, and probably hundreds (if not thousands) more had been lost over time when their creators had died, taking their knowledge to the grave.

Ricky himself had no issue with teaching Velk combos. He had not a single unique one of his own, and even if he did, he still wouldn’t have cared overmuch. The point of discoveries was to share them so they became pieces of history, and outlasted human life, after all. Hell, with the kid’s mathematic brain, he’d probably be able to pick up on and understand the subtle nuances that made them so hard in practice fairly quickly.

But combos took _time_ to learn. And there was always the difficulty of ‘which order in which to teach them.’ Teach one string of combos, from level one to level four? Teach multiple level one moves before moving onto level two so that the student can begin to string together a combination?

Ricky may have been an academic, but he was no teacher. Combos, in the aspect of theory, were beyond his abilities to teach. At best, he could _physically_ show Velk what to do and then watch the kid until he could imitate it right. And with that in mind, there was really only one _physical_ specialization that he could, feasibly, teach the kid.

“Techs,” he said, grinning down at Velk. “First of all: Chain.”

Velk tilted his head. “I’ve heard of that,” he said. “A double attack, or stacking two in a row for combined damage, right?”

Ricky nodded. “Most usually learn Chain a bit later on, after they have a few techs and passives under their belt, but I think this would be most useful to you right now – even if used on just a normal attack, chain is effective.”

Velk nodded, a large yawn cracking his jaw. “Makes sense. But did you have to drag me out of bed at the crack of dawn?”

“Of course I did,” Ricky answered swiftly. “The girls hog you all day and Mosef gets you in the evenings. This is the only possible time I could teach you.”

Velk shot him an annoyed look. “I’m not a timeshare, you know.”

-x-

Velk was looking more and more tired lately, Rayne noted as he stumbled back into the inn near the entrance of Carnack behind Scruffy, scowling at the older man’s back.

“What’s with you?” she asked, genuinely curious, and Velk paused, hovering between turning to talk to her or continue to follow Ricky and glare at him.

"Nothing," he answered finally, pulling out a chair next to where she was seated at one of the tables on the inn's first floor, slumping deep into the seat as Ricky slunk back upstairs behind his back. "Got up early."

"Yeah, I can see that," Rayne said. "We woke up and you and Scruffy were gone. Shena and I wanted to go looking for you, but Ripple and Grandpa said that you'd probably be together, and that meant you'd be fine."

"Well, they weren't wrong." With a grimace, Velk stretched out his arms and cracked his neck loud enough that Rayne winced. "Though I would have appreciated a rescue from Ricky's tender mercies."

Softly, Rayne giggled. "He beat you up, didn't he?"

"I think he enjoyed it, too," Velk laughed, even though he was pale, with bags under his eyes and the bloom of fresh bruises beginning to form over his skin. "So - where is everyone?"

"Shena wanted to stock up on some items, medicinal ones. Just because you can make them doesn't mean we shouldn't be cautious. Ripple went to talk to the harbor master, and Grandpa's still upstairs."

Velk frowned. "I thought we were meant to talk to the harbor master together."

Rayne shrugged. "I think she wanted to try and gather some information, too," she informed him. "Crazy journalist lady."

Velk snorted, but the worried light in his eyes didn't fade. "This close to Capella... Is that really wise?"

"Ripple's probably smarter than all of us combined," Rayne said dryly. "I'd say it’s actually better that she went alone, rather than you or Scruffy, since neither of you know the meaning of the word _discretion_."

Velk just laughed, placing his head down on the table. "I'm so tired right now I'd probably say something stupid," he admitted, voice muffled from where his face was pressed up against his forearms like pillows.

"We might not be leaving for at least another day," Rayne frowned. "At least, that's what Grandpa said. Something about the weather, or the waves. If you wanted to catch up on some sleep, you could just go upstairs."

Slowly, Velk blinked at her, before shaking his head. "Nah," he said. "Give me a minute to get dressed and splash some water on my face, and then we'll go look for Shena."

Rayne perked up. "We could head down to the markets by the docks!" She said excitedly. "Last night, the inn-lady told me that there was a stall that sold ice-cream there, made with ingredients from Cranberry!"

Tilting his head, Velk blinked at her. "...Ice-cream?" He asked finally, and Rayne gaped.

"Oh, wow," she said. "Do you ever have a lot to learn."


End file.
